The Doppler Effect
by Hoofikins
Summary: If there was some kind of protocol for waking up in the middle of a goddamned blizzard with the migraine to end all migraines and a small child hanging off his arm then Elliot must have skipped that class. Because all of that? That was actually happening. SI/OC Twinfic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I started re-reading Vampire Knight, because apparently I like pain and heartbreak, and _this_ was the result. Constructive criticism and advice is, as always, welcome. I haven't written a SI/OC fic quite like this one in a while so it'd be nice to hear what you guys liked, or didn't like, and help me offset any mistakes early on. Other than that, _enjoy_ ~

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When Elliot woke up it was cold. _Freezing_ cold.

Cold like ice solidifying in his veins and wet seeping into his clothes. His head felt heavy, like it was stuffed full of cotton and his throat ached.

In fact, _everything_ ached.

His legs, his arms, his back and stomach. He felt like a human shaped bruise, a smudge of pain slowly sinking further into the mound of snow beneath him. Even his eyelashes felt heavy and sore.

He gingerly raised a hand to cradle his aching head, wondering how the hell he got so hungover in the middle of the week. He _worked_ mid-week, one to eight Monday to Friday at The Forge, a pub not too far from his apartment in the city centre, and it wasn't exactly the sort of place you stayed back to have a drink in when your shift was over. (The manager was a bit too uptight for that, didn't think it looked classy to have his bartenders on the other side of the counter.)

So, unless someone spiked the glass water he kept behind the bar to refresh himself mid-shift, Elliot honestly didn't know _why_ he was feeling as trashed as he was.

On front of him something blurred, a shiver of brown and pink against the white background that shook him out of his reverie.

Elliot squinted his eyes and a young girl gradually came into focus. She was probably about four years old, give or take, with long brown hair and a face that was slowly turning blue from the cold. Snow flakes swirled around her as she stared at him with wide, blank eyes.

"Uhn..."

He tried to speak but his throat convulsed around the words and Elliot ended up curled around himself in pain as a cough tore through his body. How long had he been lying here in the cold? Long enough to be in this condition?

Why the hell was he _outside_ on a day like this? Okay so he was hardly a social butterfly but he doubted his neighbours hated him enough to let him freeze outside without at least attempting to wake him. Dublin was a bit of a shithole but it wasn't _that_ bad.

He felt a gentle pressure on his back and forced himself to unfurl from the foetal position he'd scrunched himself up into.

The little girl was leaning over him with one tiny, mitten-clad hand patting his back with great care. There were snowflakes gathering along her eyelashes and settling in her hair and all of a sudden Elliot felt a surge of anger rush through him, temporarily banishing the cold. Whatever about abandoning the six foot seven adult out to the elements - Elliot knew that regardless of his rapport with his neighbours, few people would try and wake up a strange man lying out in the street - but who the hell leaves a little _kid_ out alone in a blizzard?

That anger gave him the strength to lever himself up into a sitting position but the resulting blood rush to his head only made him feel worse. The girl's hand fell away as he reached up again to clutch at his pounding head. The ground felt too close and the sky too far away, even sitting up he felt barely any taller than when he'd been lying down. Was this what hypothermia did to a person?

He groaned as he ran his hands down his face. Elliot frowned. Since when was he wearing _gloves_?

An experimental wiggle of his fingers confirmed that he was indeed wearing a pair of finely embroidered, velvet mittens, now damp and completely unsuited for the weather around him.

Who the hell puts mittens on someone instead of just waking them up like a normal person?

Before he could explore the strange finding further another movement in the snow made both his and the little girl's heads whip around. Elliot hissed out slowly through his teeth as his head gave a sharp throb before slowly settling down and he made a firm resolution to not move quickly ever again.

The girl backed up until she was pressed against his side and Elliot felt a strange sensation come over him as he noticed that he only came up to her waist while sitting down. She hadn't seemed all that tall before but now...

He was torn away from his thoughts as the shape in the snow solidified into a man, one well dressed for the cold with an expensive looking coat buttoned up to his chin and a silk scarf tucked artfully underneath. It looked kind of old-fashioned but very, _very_ warm and Elliot fought back a brief spike of jealousy.

Was he the kid's father? If so he should be ashamed of himself for leaving her out here for so long. The girl sunk farther against his side though, dismissing that theory, clearly not recognising the man and Elliot set his mouth into a thin line at the unhealthy gleam in the stranger's gaze. Something dark and insatiable brewing behind a thin veneer of civility.

(' _H_ _unger_.' Elliot's hind-brain whispered to him ' _Hunger. Predator_ ')

"Are you lost? Little girls?" the man asked, lisping strangely around too-large teeth.

Elliot forced himself to his feet and put himself between the little girl and the stranger. He felt like he was in a dream and pursed his mouth in irritation when he had to crane his neck to meet the stranger's eyes.

It had been a long, _long_ time since Elliot had ever had to stare up at a person and he decided immediately that he didn't like it. At all.

Elliot didn't even come past the man's shins but he should have been easily his height, at 6"ft7 there weren't many people that he wasn't eye to eye with and Elliot choked back a groan as his face began to ache from all the pressure in his skull. It made sense if this was a dream, the girl and the inexplicable snow and his apparent shrinking, but the pain in his body felt too real.

The man above him smiled at his lack of response, as though finding a lost child and an incapacitated man in the snow was the best thing to ever happen to him. Elliot felt his hackles rise at the sight of that grin and took a wavering step back, keeping the girl behind him.

"Well, in _that_ case-" the man took a graceful half-step towards them, carelessly closing the gap "-do you mind if I drink your blood?"

Elliot barely had a second to even boggle at the weirdness of that statement before a strong hand had yanked his head to the side and he felt hot breath wash against his neck and the side of his face.

It smelled like blood, like decay and metal and death. This lunatic wanted to drink his blood like a goddamn vampire or some shit and he couldn't even do anything but stand there like a lemming as he felt the man's saliva drip wetly against his neck.

His eyes were still open.

( _Hunger. Predator. Prey._ _ **We're**_ _prey . Run away run away runawayrunaway_ _ **runawa**_ _-_ )

Everything happened really quickly after that.

Elliot felt the prick of teeth against his skin, the hard scrape of the man's nails through his scalp, tearing out strands, before there was a sudden gust of icy air and he was pushed back off balance and onto his back.

Something warm splattered across Elliot's face and he automatically stuck out his tongue to swipe it off his lips. The resulting metallic tang was unmistakeable and he grimaced as every muscle in his body contracted in disgust at having just ingested what was undoubtedly blood.

"Disgraceful" there was a dull murmur and Elliot blinked through hazy eyes at the scene on front of him.

Standing right there, with his hand punched clear through Elliot's attacker's head, was a teenager who looked to be a little younger than him. Handsome in a pretty sort of way with dark hair and skin as pale as the snow around them, he maintained eye contact with Elliot as he pulled his hand free from the now-dead man's head and raised the blood soaked appendage to his face.

The girl behind him let out a gentle gasp as the body then crumbled into dust but Elliot could barely move to stand and cover her gaze before the man started to delicately lap the blood from his fingers, like a cat.

His gazed flickered between the two of them and Elliot shakily tried to place the kid behind him again. His vision swam, because clearly he was incapable of listening to his own advice and just stay _still_ , but he managed to remain standing. Somehow.

"Are you two alright?" the teen asked, tongue curling around his index finger, and Elliot felt his throat close up in response. No he was emphatically _not_ alright. He had just watched the boy _punch_ _a fist_ _straight_ _though someone's skull_ _and then tongue his fucking hands_ _._ In what world would he be alright?

The girl behind Elliot pressed close to his back and whimpered and he squared his shoulders at the reminder that there was more than just his own life to protect here, somehow him and this kid were caught in the middle of a shitty horror show together and he wasn't about to throw her to the wolves. Even though his hands were sweating up the insides of his mittens.

Everything about the beatific, sweet-faced monster on front of Elliot _terrified_ him.

"Ngh." he tried to talk again but his voice just wasn't cooperating and all that emerged was a tiny groan. In the space of a second the teen was on front of him, placing the fingers of his unbloodied hands to Elliot's lips as though to silence him.

"Shh, it's going to be alright." he soothed and then he held out his other hand towards the girl at Elliot's back, shifting his gaze to smile kindly at her. "Come with me."

Like _hell_.

Elliot bit viciously at the fingers by his face and pulled the girl away from the teen's outstretched hand with as much strength as he could muster. His vision swam dangerously as he stumbled backwards, some part of him aware that there was no way he'd be able to escape but feeling the desperate need to try anyway.

Elliot felt a panic rise up in his chest as the teen did nothing but blink, looking curiously offended by Elliot's less-than-pleased reaction to having his face stroked by a bloodstained pschyo.

The boy didn't seem like he was angry, just puzzled, like he hadn't been expecting that kind of reaction.

"You're scared, that's okay. I promise I wont hurt you." he said gently, moving forward slowly with his hands outstretched as though he was trying to coax an injured animal out of hiding. Oh, he promised? Well, in _that_ case... Elliot felt his eyes rolling against his will at the sheer absurdity of that statement coming from someone who still had brain matter clinging to his knuckles.

Elliot grunted at the teen again, this time in warning as the little fuck got a bit too close for his liking. The girl at his back had a death grip on his coat and was making retreat difficult, her feet had dug into the snow as fear took over and she was surprisingly strong for someone one third of his body weight. Well, supposed body weight, it hadn't skipped Elliot's notice that he was quite a bit smaller than he should be but for the sake of his sanity he was ignoring it.

"Little one, take my hand." the teen said and Elliot glanced from his outstretched hand to the girl behind him. She looked back at him with equally puzzled eyes but Elliot wasn't sure if that was because she didn't recognise the man or if she was just going into shock.

But if it wasn't _her_ then who the fuck was the teen talking to? The longer he stared at Elliot the more it became clear that boy was referring to him and Elliot felt his stomach drop at the implication.

' _Little_ one'? What the hell was going on?

"Take my hand." he said again, with steel behind his voice, and Elliot found himself reaching out automatically to take the outstretched appendage. Elliot stared at his mitten in shock. His own hand had betrayed him.

The teen curled his fingers around Elliot's and he frowned sharply at how familiar a sensation it was. He was wary because his mind knew to be wary of murderous strangers but his body was completely relaxed and it was freaking him the fuck out. Had he been drugged? That would certainly account for _most_ of what was happening right now. The girl behind Elliot slowly unclenched her hands from his coat to peek shyly out at the teen.

"It's going to be okay, _trust me_." the teen said in that same gentle tone of voice that made Elliot's brain bristle but his shoulders droop. He tugged on Elliot's hand until he stumbled forward, feet dragging through the snow with uncomfortable stiffness, and then he reached out and snagged the girl's hand from where it's been hovering uncertainly in the spot Elliot's shoulder used to be and pulled her towards him as well.

"Come on, it'll be okay, I'm going to get you two somewhere safe." he crooned, fingers wrapping themselves more securely around Elliot's, making escape impossible.

Somehow, and he 100% blamed his weird dream-hangover for this, but the teenaged monster managed to get both of them through the snow and to a roadside that Elliot doubted he'd even have been able to find with a clear head and no blizzard on his own.

He whistled, or attempted to whistle, at the sight of the snazzy looking car on front of them that was slowly gathering a layer of fluffy white snow on the roadside. The teenager smiled down at Elliot and the girl's wide-eyed expressions and then opened the closest door to usher them into the back.

Everything in Elliot rebelled against getting into a strange car with a guy he _knew_ to be a murderer but he didn't exactly have much choice. He didn't know where he was, how he got there, or whether he'd be able to find shelter before his body simply gave out in the cold and all these unknown factors were seriously beginning to piss him off. The fact that the teenager had yet to stop smiling at him being a prime example.

Elliot knew what his pissed-off face looked like, something between a slapped arse and a grizzly bear according to his mother, so he couldn't possibly understand why the teenager was looking at him so affectionately when he was pretty sure his own expression had drifted into 'grizzled trucker with a grudge' territory.

And _that_ probably meant that he was an even bigger psychopath then Elliot had previously thought.

Which was just _swell_.

The teen attempted to place himself in-between Elliot and the girl in the back seat which really was _not_ happening - he hadn't spent this long trying to protect the kid from harm only to have this psycho separate them. Elliot batted the boy's hands away from where he was helping the girl into the back of the car and scrambled in directly after her, shooting a glare over his shoulder and making the elective decision to ignore the long brown hair that flared behind him at the motion.

(Long brown hair that couldn't possibly be his hair because his hair was short and blond and so unrestrainedly curly that his friends always gave him shit for looking like a giant, grumpy cherub.)

He was so caught up in refuting reality that when the car lurched to life Elliot didn't quite manage to catch himself before he smacked his head against the seat on front of him and couldn't contain the yelp from the resulting head-pain that followed. Elliot then spent the following few minutes batting away the crazy teenager's questing hands and trying not to throw up all over the beautifully upholstered car's interior.

The girl beside him watched in solemn silence, her large doll-like eyes taking in everything like a sponge.

The rest of the car ride passed much the same with Elliot being reluctantly fussed over and the girl watching his and the teenager's non-verbal war of wills.

Then the car jerked to a sudden stop after an indeterminable amount of time and Elliot was only saved from reacquainting his face with the back of the seat on front of him by the teenager gently, yet with astounding quickness, catching him by the shoulders and acting as a human seat-belt. Elliot frowned derisively at the lack of _actual_ seat belts in the car and then spared a moment to ask himself how it had been cleared for the road without them. The guy was obviously minted but it took a lot more than money to get a car out on the road without the proper requirements. It figured that the psychopath didn't care about braining himself on the wind-shield if the car got into an accident. Elliot allowed his lips to move back up into the sneer that was quickly becoming his default expression. The teen then began to remove his hands with aching slowness, fingers lingering on Elliot's shoulders almost unthinkingly, and he shuddered in disgust.

The teen stilled at the tremor and then ripped his hands away as though he'd been stung, Elliot ignored the flash of hurt in his kidnapper's eyes and just thanked God that the guy was silent as he aided the two of them out of the car and onto the snow-studded cobblestones of wherever the fuck the car had taken them.

Elliot's eyebrows shot up past his hairline as he turned around and caught sight of the veritable _estate_ on front of him. And 'estate' really was the only word for it, vaguely Victorian in style and spreading out in expansive wings on either side, 'house' really didn't cut it. The building looked more like a college than a home, too big and impersonal from the outside with high, spiked gating and menacing looking statues perched on the edges of the roof, staring down at Elliot with shadowed eyes and wide, expectant grins.

He shuddered again but this time the teen didn't touch him, instead opting to usher the girl towards the lamp-lit front door, safe in the knowledge that Elliot wasn't about to let the little waif out of his sights.

He stumbled forwards, feet clumsy on the cobblestones, and once again attempted to place himself in-between the girl and the teen though he was slightly less successful this time around as he had barely reached them before the door was flung open and an older, blond man was staring down at the three of them in obvious surprise.

He didn't show any disgust at the blood splattered all over their clothing so he was probably in cahoots with their adolescent captor. Because of _course_ he was. Elliot gave the man a filthy glare who just raised his eyebrows in response before turning his questioning gaze towards the teenager.

"I'll explain in a moment, may we come in?" the boy asked, something like exhaustion coming through in his youthful voice, and the man's expression softened as he wordlessly stepped aside and allowed the teenager to slowly herd Elliot and the girl into the hall and then down towards a fancy looking parlour with silk cushions and clawed sofa legs. Everything looked like something out of Downton goddamn Abbey and Elliot's headache certainly did not appreciate all the extra stimulus from the bright lamps shining from fixtures all around the room.

"Kaname." the man said, coming in to the room behind them and leaning against the door frame with a serious expression on his handsome face as the teenager helped the girl out of her coat with aching gentleness.

"Things... took an unexpected turn. Would you mind taking care of these two for me?" the teen, Kaname apparently, asked slowly as he slipped the girl's snow soaked shoes and socks off and bundled her onto the couch. "They were being attacked by a level-E when I found them, it seems to have done some... damage and I do not think my presence is helping."

The man hummed out a wordless question and Kaname took an explanatory step towards Elliot, making as though to take off his coat in the same way he'd taken off the girl's. Elliot bared his teeth in a snarl and narrowed his eyes at the blood still clinging to the edge of Kaname's otherwise immaculate cuff.

The blond man hummed again, this time in understanding and Elliot's frown deepened, drawing furrows down his cheeks with the intensity of it.

He wasn't a child and he could take off his own goddamn coat, thank you very much. He flicked the sodden mittens off his hands with a scowl, glanced down as he rubbed his damp palms on his coat and then stopped. Elliot stared at his hands. His tiny, tiny, soft little hands. His tiny, tiny, soft, little, unscarred _child's_ hands. Hands that had never known labour, had never been roughened by a brawl or marked by toil. Hands that weren't _his_.

His mouth moved wordlessly as he wriggled his small fingers and Elliot felt his stomach sink like a stone, nausea once again rearing it's ugly head as the carefully constructed barriers he had built to keep the madness at bay collapsed all at once.

Tiny hands, long brown hair, suddenly shrinking down to less than half of his height overnight...

Elliot started to wheeze as his chest suddenly seized and he bent double at the pain of it. Kaname was there in the blink of an eye, hands soothing over his back and pushing back a swathe of thick, chocolate coloured hair that couldn't possible belong to Elliot because that would mean that he wasn't in his body and that _just. wasn't. possible._

A hoarse scream filled the air and it took Elliot a moment to realise that it was coming from him and that just set off a fresh wave of hysterics. The voice was so shrill, so _young_. His stomach abruptly couldn't take it any more and he bent double in Kaname's arms and retched violently onto the fancy looking carpet beneath his feet, his stomach expelling all of it's contents as his head swam and bright spot of colour flared in his vision.

Faintly he could hear Kaname and the other man speaking, both of them sounding frantic, as his coat was ripped from him and his shoes were tugged off before he was bundled into a blessedly warm blanket. He groaned weakly, someone was rubbing his back and it was making him want to puke again. The smell of his own vomit, acrid and suddenly impossible to ignore, invaded his nose and Elliot threw up again, this time all over himself and his new blanket.

More muffled sounds, someone took the blanket away, the pain in Elliot's head reached a crescendo and his eyes rolled back in their sockets. After momentarily sparing a moment to feel regret over leaving the little girl alone in the clutches of two murdering freaks, Elliot gave into the darkness humming around the edges of his vision and slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

The journey back to consciousness was not a kind one to Elliot.

Nausea, dizziness, nausea, aching limbs, nausea, piercing head pains and yet _more_ nausea accompanied him as he slowly felt his mind piecing itself back together after it's earlier collapse.

Elliot gingerly patted the soft surface he was resting on and tried to stop the world from spinning. It felt distinctly 'bed-like' with soft sheets shifting under his questing fingers. He managed to crack open an eye after a few minutes spent ascertaining that, no, his head wouldn't explode from the stimulus, and gazed out blearily into what looked like a very expensive hotel room.

It looked Swanky. With a capital 's'. Warm earthy tones decorated the walls, complimenting the dark wooden floor and the cream coloured bed-linens that lay tangled around his body. It was a little old fashioned but very, very expensive looking and Elliot had a sudden, shameful flashback to the dreary box-room that served as his sleeping space back home.

Another few seconds spent studying the room revealed a small bedside table with a pitcher of water and a glass on it.

"Oh Christ, yes!" Elliot moaned as he grabbed the pitcher and tried to neck the entire thing, his throat feeling as dry as the Sahara. As he did so he caught sight of his own small, pale hands clutching the edges of the pitcher and abruptly dropped it in surprise.

Oh _yeah_. He'd forgotten about those.

Elliot cursed under his breath and scrambled to right the pitcher before it spilled it's entire contents into his lap. He was a little too late and groaned up at the hanging canopy as the dampness seeped through the bed covers and down to his legs.

Shaking off the covers and carefully placing the pitcher back on the bed-side table, Elliot then tentatively swung his legs around to sit at the edge of the mattress.

His legs, half-covered in what looked like an old-fashioned women's nightdress, were small and slender and, most disturbingly, entirely hairless. Elliot had always been a decently padded kind of guy, both in muscle and body-hair, and the sight of his tiny, bare legs were enough to have the bile rising once more in his throat.

He managed to choke it down after a moment and, after wiping his mouth and giving a full body shudder of disgust, he hopped down from the bed. He had to steady himself with the bed-side table as he misjudged the distance and his weird, bony knees buckled in surprise.

"Shit..."

Elliot looked irritably around for any witnesses to his sudden weakness and, seeing none, slumped his shoulders and made his way out of the room. The door wasn't locked, which was both reassuring and worrying.

What kind of kidnappers didn't lock the godddamn _doors_?

High strung and still feeling faintly dizzy, Elliot tip-toed down the corridor, taking in the fancy oil lamps lighting the way and the soft, fuzzy carpet beneath his bare feet.

He managed to make it all the way down the halfway and half-way down the staircase at the end before a pair of deft hands plucked him up off his feet like he weighed fucking nothing. Elliot hissed like a startled cat as he was rested against a strong chest and looked up to see the blond man from earlier beaming down at him.

"There you are! I step out for a second and you run off! Haha, what a little minx." the man exclaimed, looking delighted in the face of Elliot's open hostility. There were glasses on his face now and Elliot could see part of his own reflection in them. All he got was a flash of brown hair and pale skin before he abruptly looked away and shut his eyes with a wince.

Whatever was going on with his body was not something that Elliot wanted to deal with just this minute. He'd probably end up screaming again. And throwing up. Or throwing up and then screaming. Or both at once. The point was that it wouldn't be pleasant.

"Oh dear, you're really not feeling well, are you sweetheart?" the man asked, gently patting Elliot's back. "Poor Yuki was out of her little mind with worry but I suppose it was best to let you sleep the worst of it off, ne?"

Yuki? Elliot opened his eyes to glare irritably at the blond man's nose.

"Who, or what, the _hell_ is a 'Yuki'?" he asked, throat rasping uncomfortably. The blond man clucked disapprovingly and jostled Elliot a little bit as he descended the staircase and out into a large foyer below.

"Language!" the man huffed before settling Elliot down onto his feet and ushering him along and into another fancy looking room – this one Elliot vaguely remembered from earlier. He eyed the sofa that he was pretty sure he'd thrown up on and noticed that it had a new beige blanket draped over one of the arms to replace the one he'd covered in vomit.

Elliot motioned as though to make for the sofa and then grunted as he was once again accosted mid-step. This time by a tiny child missile. She plowed into him, almost knocking him off balance, and wrapped her wiry, little arms around his neck, squeezing so tightly that Elliot thought he'd genuinely die from the lack of oxygen going to his brain.

" _Urk_! St-stop hugging me, demon child!" he hissed, tiny, baby hands batting ineffectually at the girl who's grip only tightened as she began to sob on his shoulder. He looked up at the man for help but was instead momentarily blinded by a bright, white flashing light followed by a mechanical clicking sound.

Elliot blinked stars out of his eyes and then gaped at the archaic looking camera clutched giddily in the man's hands.

"Oh _woah_ , you two are so cute! Look at this!" The man cooed, plucking the photo from the camera slot and shaking it out with a grin. He then shoved it in Elliot's face who took one look at the picture and then _froze_.

There, right slap-bang in the middle of the photo, was a girl of about four or five. She was kind of adorable, with long dark, brown hair that framed a pale, little face with a set of icy, blue eyes glaring up beseechingly at him from the glossy photo surface. It would have been enough to make Elliot's expression soften except for the fact that the girl in the photo was wearing a sodden looking white nightdress and had another little girl wrapped around her in a desperate hug.

It would have been a cute photo if Elliot wasn't suddenly and horrifyingly aware that the girl in the photo was supposed to be _him_.

He tried not to throw up on the kid on front of him and just barely succeeded. His poor stomach was definitely not up to dealing with this supernatural fuckery.

"What... what the hell is going on? Who are you!" he demanded, noticing how high and squeaky his voice sounded, how _young_.

The man sighed and took back the photo with a wounded look on his face,

"Language, Kishi!" the man scolded, wagging a finger in his face and Elliot fought the urge to bite it.

"Just come on, sit up here sweetheart. I'll explain everything over breakfast." the man said, a little softer, as he leaned down and untangled the child's arms from around Elliot's neck and ushered them both towards a small table set up in the corner displaying a plethora of breakfast foods.

Or breakfast- _ish_ foods. Elliot didn't recognise a lot of it but it was a strange spread of cereal, meat, rice and what looked like _soup_ , of all things. He wrinked his nose but obediently hopped up onto one of the chairs after helping the child up on to the one next to him.

The man clapped his hands delightedly and sat down opposite them.

"First things first, my name is Kaien Cross but you can call me Papa if you want!" the man, Kaien, cooed, reaching out to ruffle the girl's hair and then Elliot's. He snatched his hand back before Elliot could smack him and looked completely unruffled at the filthy look he had levelled at him in response.

"No." Elliot bit out, crossing his arms across his chest in what was usually an intimidating gesture but what he was sure now just looked defensive and frightened.

Well fuck it, he _was_ defensive and frightened!

"Ooh don't be like that, Kishi! You and little Yuki here are going to be staying with me, it's only natural that you call me Papa!" Kaien exclaimed and Elliot blanched.

"You want us to call you _daddy_?" he asked dryly with a raised eyebrow and then it was Kaien's turn to blanch.

"Uwah, don't say it like that! What a terrible mind you have!" he barked, waving his hands around as if to dispel the very notion. Elliot opened his mouth to say something else when a faint, quivering voice cut through the air.

"Stay..." the child who's name was probably 'Yuki' said as she looked up at Kaien with big, wide eyes. She was actually ridiculously cute and Elliot bit back a smile. Kaien had no such compunctions and plucked her up out of her seat and swung her around in a looping circle-hug.

"Yes, Yuki! Stay with Papa~" he sang.

Elliot felt his hackles rise at the sight of Yuki caught in Kaien's arms with a deer-in-the-headlights look on her little face. Two seconds later he was up out of his seat and kicking Kaien in the leg before his thoughts managed to catch up with him. Kaien gave a little 'Ooh' of surprise before loosening his arms enough for Yuki to worm out of his hold.

Elliot hurriedly tucked the girl behind his back and scowled furously up at Kaien... who looked like he was near tears, his mouth giving a comical wobble.

"So mean..." the man muttered, reaching down to rub at his abused shin.

"Stay away from her. And me. The both of us just... just sit over there!" Elliot ordered, unmoved, pointing rigidly at the seat at the far end of the table.

"Mou, so bossy Kishi, you'll make Papa sad!" Kaien scolded but he sat down at the indicated chair with the longsuffering expression of put-upon parents everywhere. Elliot didn't appreciate the impication that he was being childish and shook with the effort of keeping his rising fury in check.

A questioning murmur from behind him had his expression softening and he turned to give Yuki a quick smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to leave you alone with this creep." he promised and, even though he wasn't sure if she could even understand him or not, her face split into a wide, sunny smile that took him completely off balance.

Elliot couldn't hold back an answering grin as he gently helped her onto a chair – the one farthest away from Kaien – and then scrambled up to the table himself.

Kaien looked, of all things, pleased with Elliot's apparent protectiveness and was also smiling.

Except _his_ smile had the effect of making Elliot lose his.

"What are we doing here, why have you kidnapped us?" he demanded, absently reaching out to stop Yuki from poking one of the fish pieces with her fingers. Kaein looked offended.

"Kidnapped? You're too cute to wear such a suspicious face! I've agreed to take you in as a favour to Kaname – he's the boy who found you out in the snow and brought you here. Do you-" and here Kaien's eyes sharpened slightly "-do you remember anything?"

Elliot frowned.

"I remember waking up in the middle of a blizzard and being attacked by a goddamn monster!" he said with a full body shudder in remeberence of that _things_ hands in his hair. Kaein's face twisted in sympathy and he reached out to pat Elliot's hand.

"Yuki doesn't seem to remember much either, though you're certainly adjusting better. Truth be told she's barely spoken a word since you both arrived." Kaien said brightly, as though Yuki being near mute was a wonderful thing rather than probably being the result of trauma.

"And where's this 'Kaname' now?" Elliot asked. If there was only Kaien here then they might be able to escape and get to a police station or something. He, at least, seemed to be human.

"Kaname has a lot on his plate at the moment but he will no doubt return to see how you two little ducks are getting on." Kaien assured, as though he thought Elliot wanted to see the creep again.

"Swell." he said darkly. "Just... _swell_."

"Mm hm, don't you worry your pretty, little head about him, Kishi. He'll be back before you know it!" Kaien continued, unaware or just uncaring about his blatant use of sarcasm. Elliot , personally, was leaning towards the former, the man was clearly an idiot, but something in his gut niggled that if may actually be the later.

Next to him Yuki succeeded in picking up one of the fish while he was distracted and was now licking at it curiously.

"Stop that, it's not a lolly pop. Here-" Elliot muttered, taking the fish off her and cutting it up properly into bite-sized chunks. "-eat it this way, small bites or you'll choke."

"Ahhh, sisterly love! So pure~" Kaien said with a bit of a swoon, flipping the end of his oversized scarf around in a dramatic fashion.

'Sister love'. Riiiight. Elliot was not ready to touch that topic with a ten foot pole.

And yet...

... and yet the similarities to the body he was aparantly inhabiting and Yuki's were undeinable. They were basically the same person, if you ignored the differences in eye and hair colour. Twins? This body was undeniably female which was disturbing on so many levels that Elliot couldn't even begin to start untangling how he felt about it... but...

"Do you want me to cut up your fish too, Kishi?" Kaien asked cheerily, snapping Elliot out of his reverie. And _that_ was another thing.

"Why do you keep calling me Kishi?" he demanded, feeling pushed off kilter and more nervous than he could ever remember being in his life. This wasn't a dream, everything was too vivid and too real and the pain he felt was too visceral to be anything other than genuine, but if that was the case then he was... he'd been...

"That's your name, Kishi. It mean's 'knight', the kind that guards princesses like little Yuki here." Kaien explained with a kind smile that Elliot kind of wanted to punch off his face. "Yuki means 'princess' so you two are a matching pair, ne?"

Elliot looked over at Yuki who, with her long hair and doe-eyes, did look a lot like a disney character. He then recalled the icy eyes of the body he was inhabiting and frowned contemplatively. _Knight_. He could work with that.

"Just call me Knight then. Kishi... I don't like it." he said. It felt too much like a real name, too much like accepting his situation to just take this new body and sister and father without putting up an inch of a fight. Knight felt like a title, a mask that he could put on and hide Elliot underneath. Knight wasn't something he'd stolen along with this small body.

"Hm, Knight? It's such a manly name! Kishi is so cute, are you sure?" Kaien asked with a pout and Elliot nodded decisively.

"Completely. Please, call me Knight." Elliot said firmly, meeting Kaien's eyes without blinking.

"Awh, very well. Knight it is." the man huffed but there was something like a smile playing around the corners of his mouth and Elliot scowled down at his plate at the pleased feeling he got in his stomach at the unspoken approval. He'd never been much for caring what other people thought but this body was still that of a child's and it reacted without his consent, suffusing his cheeks with warmth.

A gentle pat on his clenched fists caused him to look up and Yuki stared down at him with an intent look in her eyes.

"Nnn... nn... Knight." she said softly, trying out the word as though for the first time, and Elliot felt his chest swell from something akin to adoration as those big brown eyes bored into his and her tiny hand unclenched his fingers one-by-one.

"Knight!" she chirped again, looking incredibly pleased with herself and Elliot couldn't contain the dopy smile that spread across his face in response. Knight. He guessed that that was who he'd have to be for the time being, just until he figured out a way to get them both to safety. He wasn't quite sure when Yuki managed to worm her way into his heart but he was fucked if he was going to leave her behind.

"Yuki." Knight replied solemnly, turning his palm over to lace their fingers together. They were in this together now, for better or for worse.

Yuki beamed at him, tightening her fingers around his, and, just like that, he was done for. Elliot Larkin's life was over. And the life of Knight Cross was about to begin.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who favourited/followed and reviewed the last chapter. You're all lovely 3

As always, if anyone has any constructive criticism or comments on the chapter then feel free to let me know. All my stories are un-beta'd so extra eyes are appreciated.

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The next few weeks passed quickly.

Or, at least they did for Knight who's dizziness and nausea hadn't abated in the slightest and left him dipping in and out of consciousness at the drop of a hat.

He spent most of the time sleeping or throwing up. Yuki probably had a more difficult time of it, having to re-learn how to talk and eat and dress herself like a goddamn two year old. She couldn't read or write either and the lessons that Kaien were starting her on to get her up to scratch with other five year olds were a bitch.

Or at least that's what Knight told himself as he hunched over the toilet bowl and urged his stomach to calm down.

He just couldn't seem to keep anything he ate in his system - something he'd learned the first night after all the fish and rice and whatever else he'd eaten at breakfast had fast-tracked back up his throat hours later.

Initially he'd thought it was just Kaien's funky cooking – seriously, fish for breakfast? But he couldn't even keep things like apples or dry cereal or _toast_ down. Fucking _toast_! The king of all sick foods!

Knight groaned and pressed his sweaty forehead against the cool porcelain of the toilet in an attempt to appease his pounding headache.

He thanked what ever God was listening that he'd been given his his own room and en suite because the idea of Yuki seeing him like this made something small and shameful uncurl in his chest. So much for being her 'knight', he could barely keep himself upright half the time.

He gave one last dry heave and then spat out whatever remaining bile remained in his mouth, face crinkling in disgust, before laboriously getting up and rinsing his mouth out at the sink. He had to stand on a little box to reach the faucet - it was hilarious watching Yuki delicately climb onto the tiny step but infinitely less so when it was himself that had to totter unsteadily up onto the pink block.

Also, yes, pretty much everything he owned now in this world was pink. Or cream. Or some satanic mixture of the two.

Knight had never thought he'd long for a plain blue shirt or a pair of orange socks before in his entire life and yet here he was. Kaien seemed to be of the mind that children's clothes needed to be impossibly gendered lest anyone forget that he and Yuki were inhabiting tiny female bodies. Just in case the girly faces and arse-length hair didn't give it away at first glance.

It was an ongoing struggle to get Kaien to add any colour to their wardrobe though Knight was _now_ the proud owner of a brown coat and a pair of green winter boots after five whole days of protest wherein he'd played the 'sick little girl' card for all that he was worth.

Trousers were the ultimate 'holy grail' that he was working fervently towards.

"Knight?" a soft voice called out from beyond the door and he wiped his mouth clean with a sigh.

Yuki had taken to shadowing him, despite their separate rooms he'd often wake up to find her curled around him during the night. He didn't mind but it did make it so much more stressful when he had to try and extricate himself to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking her. She also got kind of anxious when he was out of sight for more than a few minutes. Kaien distracted her the best he could but Knight had gotten himself used to hearing her voice calling out for him down the corridors of the mansion.

"I'll be out in a second." he called, hopping down from the step and rolling back down the gauzy cuffs of his sleeves.

As expected Yuki was waiting for him outside the bathroom door with a tiny furrow between her brows. She wordlessly hooked her fingers through the material of his shirt and stepped in close enough for Knight to be able to make out the freckles that had broken out along her nose after their sojourn in the sun yesterday.

"You're being even less talkative than usual, what's wrong?" he asked, untangling her fingers from his shirt to lace their hands together. He felt less like a toy doll that Yuki liked to drag around this way. He still got dragged but it was less humiliating to be pulled by his hand than by his shirt sleeve.

"Guest." she said and Knight felt both his eyebrows rise up to his hairline. A guest? Well that _was_ unusual. Kaien hadn't exactly taken pains to hide the two of them from the rest of the world but they _had_ been restricted in their access of the outside and all the windows in their bedrooms and the rooms they tended to frequent were covered in thick curtains.

Knight also hadn't noticed so much as another soul in this gigantic mansion since he'd arrived.

Kaien cooked all the food they ate and also appeared to do all the washing and cleaning. Knight once had the misfortune to come downstairs a little earlier than usual and had been treated to the sight of a humming Kaien in a frilly apron dusting the shelves in the main sitting room.

No maids, no cleaning staff, no cooks and no-one to see the two strange little girls that he'd taken into his home. Knight couldn't help but feel like they were being kept a secret for some reason. It was probably connected to the whole 'vampire thing'.

Oh _yeah_ , vampires were a thing in this strange new hell he'd been thrown into. Just in-case the crazy blood-sucking guy in the snow and then the _crazier_ blood-sucking guy in the snow didn't give it away.

Speaking of Kaname, the 'guest' was probably him.

He'd been to visit a few times, the only other person who seemed to know of Knight and Yuki's existence in the whole wide world and wasn't _that_ disconcerting. It was only because of the strange hours Knight's illness forced him to keep that he even realised that Kaname was there at all.

Kaname hadn't spoken to him, as such, just given him a weirdly tender smile and walked away as Kaien ushered him back to his room, babbling about how sleep was good for curing colds and scolding him for walking around on his own.

The second time he'd caught Kaname leaving the teenager leaving he'd gotten nothing more than a sombre nod in response to his presence and Kaien had, once again, bustled him back to the upper floors with warnings not to wake his sister.

Yuki had apparently met him again in the second week of them living with Kaien. Knight didn't know much about it as he'd slept through the entire thing but apparently Yuki broke Kaname or something. Whatever it was that she'd done to make Kaname 'break down' Knight whole heartedly approved and treated Yuki to his desert that night as a reward. But he himself had yet to see Kaname and actually talk to him since the first night.

Yuki trundled cutely down the corridors, dragging a blank faced, ruminating Knight behind her, until they reached the solid wooden door that marked Kaien's study. It was the only door that was ever locked, Knight had never seen the inside without Kaien physically letting him inside, but it swung open now at the barest touch of Yuki's free hand.

Unsurprisingly Kaname was seated inside with a cup of something that had _better_ be coffee nestled in his palms.

Knight stared dully up at Kaien and Kaname and tugged Yuki to a stop when she made to walk closer.

Kaien looked at their joined hands with unabashed glee, ignoring Knight's hostile stare, and stepped forward to embrace the two of them in a swinging hug.

"Oh my cute little girls! Papa's got a surprise guest for yoooou~" he sang, up until Yuki went boneless and slithered out of his hold like and eel, leaving Knight resting resentfully against Kaien's hip. Kaien mock sobbed for a moment before theatrically wiping away his non-existent tears and slumping dejectedly into a nearby chair with Knight trapped on his lap.

"At least Knight loves me! Yes you do! Yes you do!" he thrilled, rubbing his cheek against Knight's, ignoring the pained look that the child displayed in response.

Knight bemoaned the weakness in his limbs that refused to allow him to preform the same evasive manoeuvres as Yuki. She was a regular Houdini whereas Knight's limbs had a terrible tendency to lock in place or tremble when he tried to exert too much force. Yuki blinked up apologetically at him from her nice safe spot on the floor before she turned her gaze to Kaname, curiosity and fear warring in her big Bambi eyes.

Kaname smiled gently and Knight could actually see the fear draining to be replaced with delight as Yuki gifted him a wide grin that made even Knight's sour expression start to lift. Knight fought down a sliver of jealousy that reared it's head at the sight of Yuki smiling up so innocently at Kaname, with mixed success. He cleared his throat.

"What's going on?" he demanded, wincing at the high, lisping voice that carried his words out into the room. Fuck, he sounded like Draco Malfoy.

"Manners" Kaien reprimanded gently before settling him back onto the ground. "Kaname here just came to see how you too are getting on, seeing as you've been so eager to see him the past few weeks I thought a day-time meeting would be appropriate." he said.

Knight blanched. Kaname was here because Kaien had mistaken his suspicion for interest? He gazed cautiously up at the man-

( _vampirevampirevampirepredator remember you're ju_ _ **st prey**_ )

-to see that he wasn't even looking at him. Kaname was conversing quietly with Yuki who looked intent on devouring his every word, her little face scrunched in concentration. She'd forgone her earlier caution and was now standing by his knee, perilously close to the hands that Knight had personally witness punch straight through the skull of a grown man.

Well that... that wasn't acceptable at _all_.

Knight stepped smartly forward and recaptured Yuki's hand, smiling as she absently laced their fingers together without any input from him. He then tuned in to what Kaname was saying, ostensibly to stop Yuki from being drawn in by honeyed words and not because he felt a fraction of the stress that had been burdening him the past few weeks melt away at the sound of his voice.

"-I'll bring you back some, next time I visit, if you'd like?" Kaname said and Yuki clapped her hands delightedly.

"Please!" she chirped. Her vocabulary was limited but she mostly knew what people were saying to her. Thanks in no small part to Knight talking himself hoarse and reading her every bed-time story in Kaien's rather impressive library. He'd never had any siblings in his own world but he was slowly coming around to love Yuki as a little sister. He defied anyone not to love her after three weeks in close proximity though. There was just something incredibly sweet about her that made even Knight's grim scowl melt off his face.

So it was thanks to that that he was sporting a little grin when Kaname finally turned his attention onto him. The man's answering smile simultaneously made him feel like he was standing out under the sun and also a lot like punching him in the face.

"Kishi, Kaien tells me that you haven't been feeling well." Kaname said with a concerned little hum, long fingered hands reaching down to adjust the crooked collar of Knight's shirt. Knight frowned at the mention of the name of the girl who's body he'd stolen and looked irritably to the side. He couldn't be mean when staring into eyes that displayed so much open concern but looking away assuaged some of his guilt.

"My name is Knight. And I'm _fine_." he stressed, uncomfortable with the hands so close to his neck but unable to move without taking Yuki with him. And she was perfectly content where she was, expression smoothed out with idle contentment as she leaned back against Kaname's legs.

"Mm, 'fine' indeed! Poor little Knight's been throwing up every night this week. And last week. And the week before that-" Kaien butted in and Knight's expression soured.

"Hey!" he protested but was shushed by the gentle pressure of one of Kaname's fingers against his mouth as the teen motioned for Kaien to go on. Knight barely listened to Kaien going into details about his unfortunate illness as he went cross-eyed trying to glare the offending finger into flames with the sheer force of his will alone.

Beside him Yuki giggled and he cast his eyes sideways to see her muffling her laughter with her fists, whatever expression he was wearing on his face was apparently hilarious to her. He scowled, which only made her laugh harder, and then resumed trying to bore a hole into the side of Kaname's face with his ire.

Unable to move backwards with Yuki tethering him here, unable to move his face without admitting defeat, Knight stood there and clenched his free hand into a fist.

"Stop that." Kaname said abruptly, eyes narrowing on Knight's, nostrils flaring.

He didn't even notice the infinitesimal pain of his nails cutting into his palms until Kaname's hand abruptly shifted from his mouth to curl his finger's around Knight's wrist, bringing it up into the light. Knight relaxed his fingers instinctively and was briefly surprised by the smudge of red against his pale skin.

"Huh, must have-" he didn't get to finish his sentence before Kaname gracefully leaned over the wound and cleaned the blood from Knight's palm with two deft flicks of his tongue.

He just... with his...

Knight did what any self respecting man in his situation would do. Taking stock of Yuki's hand in his and Kaname's fingers manacled around his wrist he braced himself... and then reared back to head-butt Kaname in his ridiculously pretty face.

He was left disappointed, however, as Kaname swiftly retreated with a troubled look on his face as he scrutinized Knight's furious face, completely avoiding getting a smack of Knight's forehead.

"Ah, forgive me Kis- _Knight_. I think it best if you and Yuki go play for now. I'll say goodbye before I go." He promised before pressing a kiss to Knight's palm and then leaning over to do the same to Yuki's forehead. As though his presence was ever going to be something that Knight would be sad to see go.

Kaien wasted no time in bundling the two of them out into the corridor though, before Knight could get around to articulating the thoughts in his head. And then, with a cheery reminder for Knight to get the first aid kit out of the kitchens and wash out his palm, he locked the doors behind him with a click of finality.

Knight looked over to see Yuki with her hands pressed to her forehead and a bright blush flaming across her pale cheeks like a beacon. She was staring unblinkingly at the closed door as though she could see Kaname through it and Knight groaned.

" _No_. No crushes on the big, scary vampires until you're at _least_ thirty! At _least_!" he ordered, grabbing her by the arm and, for once, pulling Yuki down the corridors and away from the study. And Kaname. _Mostly_ Kaname.

Knight only stopped his hellish pace when his chest began to get tight from the lack of oxygen and he was forced to slow down or risk having another dizzy-spell.

"Gone." Yuki said solemnly and Knight looked up, trying to tame his breathing so it sounded less like he'd just run a marathon.

"Wh-what?" he wheezed and Yuki picked up his hand in answer, turning the appendage over until Knight could see his palm. It was clear of any blood with only the barest of silvery lines to denote where Knight's nails had broken the skin. It looked nothing like the fresh wound it should be.

Kaname had... _healed_ him? Knight shuddered at the memory of the wet swipe of that tongue on his palm and decided that he'd much rather live with the wounds.

"Yeah, Yuki. The cuts are all gone." he answered eventually.

Yuki poked curiously at the healed scars and Knight curled his fingers around hers before dropping her hand and continuing on towards the kitchen.

"Ah ah, that's dirty Yuki. Let me clean it off first, we don't know where Kaname's been!" he said, shaking his hand for emphasis.

Yuki giggled again and then looked embarrassed.

"K'name's not dog!" she said, trying to stifle her smile and Knight harrumphed as he threw open the doors to the kitchen and began to hunt around for the first aid kit.

"Oi, less defending the man who just _licked_ me, like a dog I might add, and more looking for plasters please and thank you." he said pointedly and Yuki stuck her tongue out at him before helping him in his search.

Eventually they found the kit buried in one of the upper cupboards with Yuki balancing precariously on Knight's shoulders to get the cupboard door open and the kit out.

"Trust Kaien not to put the damn thing anywhere handy, _ugh_." Knight bitched as his knees threatened to buckle and Yuki smacked a gentle hand down onto his face in reprimand.

"No cranky." she admonished and Knight grinned ruefully as she passed down the kit with the air of someone passing on a holy object.

"Alright, alright. No cranky" he promised as he knelt down so that Yuki could safely get off his shoulders and then sat on the floor, feeling winded from the small amount of activity.

Yuki stared down at him worriedly for a moment before plopping onto the ground and taking the kit back off him, opening it to rifle through it's contents.

"What?" she questioned, peering confusedly into the box and picking up a roll of bandages to squint at suspiciously.

"Antiseptic, you're looking for antiseptic. It should be in a little bottle." Knight said, resting his head against the cupboard at his back and closing his eyes against the headache he could feel building behind his eyes.

He could hear Yuki shifting through the box's interior before she made a little 'Aha' sound and took his hand in both of hers.

"Knight. Ana'spetic." she said proudly and he cracked open his eyes to see the small clear bottle of antiseptic that Yuki had found and put aside. He grinned tiredly at her.

"Antiseptic, Yuki. Anti-sep-tic." he sounded out slowly and Yuki mouthed the word along with him.

"Anaseptic?" she tried and Knight laughed.

"So close." he teased and picked up the bottle, squeezing out a healthy dollop of the clear gel into his hand and vigorously massaging it into his skin. It wasn't like he thought Kaname had rabies or anything but it would be just his luck to end up contracting some kind of vampire ultra virus from the saliva-to-blood contact or something.

* * *

He'd contracted a goddamn vampire _mother_ _ **fucking**_ ultra virus.

Knight screamed into his pillow for ten long seconds before taking a deep breath... and returning to screaming.

"Honestly, there's no need to be so dramatic. It's not the end of the world." Kaien placated from the doorway.

Knight flipped him off and, ignoring Kaien's affronted gasp, continued bellowing his rage into his pillow with single minded focus.

 _Un-fucking-believable!_

* * *

The day had started the same way they usually did in the mansion.

Knight woke up ridiculously early with Yuki wrapped around his middle like the world's most adorable humanoid octopus.

He then had to spend fifteen minutes gently untangling her arms from his waist so that he could sneak into the bathroom to (very, very _quietly_ ) throw up what ever supper his 'middle of the night bathroom break' hadn't managed to purge from his system.

Knight then rinsed his mouth out, looked forlornly down at how unhealthily thin his body was becoming from a lack of proper nutrients, and then went back outside to dress himself and wake Yuki. Which was... difficult.

Yuki was emphatically _not_ a morning person.

Knight deftly avoided another of her irritable hand swipes as he tore off the covers. Her tiny hands were like claws this early in the morning and, more than once, Knight had lost skin and hair to her tiny wolverine nails.

"Wakey wakey! If you're not up and out of bed in three seconds I'm going to pour a glass of water on you!" he threatened cheerily and Yuki blinked blearily up at him from the pillow nest she'd cultivated up near the head of the bed.

Knight raised an eyebrow warningly and Yuki let out an explosive sight before she slithered right off the mattress and curled up mutinously on the floor with a groan.

It had taken him nearly a month to get this kind of quick response in the morning. At the beginning Knight did actually have to upend whole pitchers of water on her face to get her up. Yuki now had a healthy fear of what her otherwise docile 'sister' would do to get her out of bed.

Knight, content that his job was done, abandoned Yuki to her foetal position and threw open his wardrobe and began picking out their clothes for today. They shared the same size so, even though Yuki had a whole wardrobe full of clothes in her own room, it was easier to just pick out things that Knight didn't want to wear and give them to Yuki instead. He didn't feel too guilty, all the clothes Kaien bought were adorable.

Adorable just wasn't the look Knight was particularly keen to go for. 'Intimidating' or 'fierce', _sure_. But adorable? His masculinity had taken enough hits as it was. There was no way he'd voluntarily go out wearing the pastel pink monstrosities that he regularly stuffed Yuki into.

And _hey_ , don't get him wrong, he didn't think that there was anything particularly _wrong_ about wearing the occasional bit of pink. He owned a few pink shirts and socks and even a pink tie back in his own world. But there was just something about an entire wardrobe stuffed to the brim with pink that made his non-existent testicles shrivel up inside his metaphorical body.

Yuki leaned against his back with her bony little chin jammed straight into the junction of his neck and shoulder so that she could see into the wardrobe.

"What wanna wear?" she asked and Knight crinkled his nose at her morning breath.

"Go brush your teeth, I'll surprise you with something cute." he promised and Yuki nodded sleepily, digging her chin in further, before wobbling towards the bathroom on spindly deer legs. She really was incredibly uncoordinated in the mornings.

Knight picked out a dress at random, something simple with short puffed sleeves and little bows instead of buttons at the back, for Yuki along with some underwear and socks and then set about the much harder task of picking out clothes for himself.

There was a depressing lack of cream in his wardrobe now. He'd worn most of it and Kaien had yet to return them from the washing room. Knight got the feeling that Kaien didn't actually _wash_ the clothes and instead just threw them out and replaced them with brand new ones. It would certainly explain the new additions to his wardrobe.

Like the blessedly blue dress that Knight reverently plucked out of it's hiding space sandwiched between two winter coats.

 _Blue_... Knight swooned gently as his fingers trailed across the velvet slip.

It still had a tag on it, fancy script in what looked like French scrawled across the plastic, though the price had been ripped off. Like all the other clothes in the wardrobe it was brand new. Granted it was still a dress but it was _blue_ and that was all that mattered.

Knight quickly shed his sleep-clothes and changed into his prize before Yuki managed to drag herself out of the bathroom, toothpaste still smeared on her cheek.

Knight gave her a hopeless look before handing her the underwear and dress and walking into the bathroom to brush his own teeth again. Something about throwing up always made his mouth feel scummy for ages, no matter how many times he cleaned it.

When he came out Yuki was sitting at their shared vanity table and was attempting to brush her hair. Knight noted with no small amount of pride that she'd managed to put the dress on the right way 'round, though two of the bow buttons at the back were still unopened.

"Here, let me-" he offered, nimbly closing the buttons and then liberating the hairbrush from her chaotic hands. Knight then proceeded to try save Yuki's hair from the bird's nest she'd made of it. It was kind of nice, soothing even, to brush out her hair and braid it into a neat plait that ran down the centre of her back. Knight may not have had any sisters in his own world but he did have female friends and it was a skill he came across naturally.

He was a little less precious with his own hair and only brushed it absently before he helped Yuki tie her shoe laces and then allowed her to drag him out the door and down to the dining room for breakfast.

Ah _breakfast_ , once his favourite meal and now a daily challenge.

He had to eat, he knew that. Eating and hoping that his body managed to consume enough to sustain itself before throwing up the rest was all that he could do. But the inevitability of it took away all of the enjoyment out of consuming food that he used to love.

The breakfast was already laid out and waiting for them along with Kaien who had a comically large newspaper spread out on front of his face.

"Good morning!" he said without looking away from the paper. Yuki and Knight shared a glance and then shrugged it off, well used to Kaien's eccentricities at this stage.

There was the usual cereal along with stacks of pancakes, bacon and a bowl of what was probably scrambled eggs in the centre of the table. One could never tell with Kaien. Knight still had nightmares about the ham sandwich that turned out to be full of pop rocks and the bowl of porridge that was actually mashed potatoes.

Kaien was a terrifying cook.

There was also a pot of tea and two fresh glasses of cranberry juice laid out at their respective seats – Knight closest to Kaien with Yuki placed at the end of the table and closest to the door for safety.

Yuki scrambled into her seat and then immediately necked her entire glass of juice before reaching absently for Knight's. Kaien, who had been pretending to ignore them for some reason, suddenly came alive and swatted her hands away with a distinctly nervous sounding laugh.

"Ah _aah_ , that's Knight's juice! Here, I'll pour you another glass, ahaha, stealing it _wrong_ , Yuki!" he said, trying for solemn but winding up somewhere around psychotic. Yuki looked unreasonable chastised and Knight felt irritation bubble in his chest.

"It doesn't matter, she can have it. I'll just have tea." he said and reached across to pour himself a cup but was stopped by another chaotic flap of Kaien's hands.

"It hadn't finished steeping yet, I only put it on!" he said.

"I don't mind, I prefer weak tea-" Knight said, reaching for the pot again only to have Kaien take it right off the table.

"Nonsense! This tea needs to be steeped for exactly ten minutes, otherwise you'll never be able to experience the full breadth of the flavours and it will have been a complete waste of time!" Kaien insisted, placing the pot on a high shelf and dusting off his hands.

Knight looked at him and then back to the pot and decided that it was entirely too much effort this early in the morning. The walk from his bedroom to the dining room was wearing heavily on his weak limbs and he needed some food in him before his body decided to try and destroy itself again.

Yuki was already digging in to her food, Kaien's weirdness not nearly enough to distract her from the prospect of eating, and Knight decided to take her lead and just ignore their weirdo guardian before he got another headache.

He spooned himself a helping of the scrambled eggs and, after thoroughly sniffing everything on his plate to make sure there were no 'surprises', dug in with as much enthusiasm as he could muster.

Which, thankfully, was not much as the first mouthful he took in was so heavily laden with salt that it made him want to gag. Yuki set down her cutlery with a clatter as he began to cough and splutter and Knight blindly reached out for his glass of juice.

"Ugh, too much salt! Oh my _God_!" he gasped as Yuki helped press the glass into his hands. He shot her a thankful grimace before taking a long draught of the juice to try and wash away the overwhelming taste of salt in his mouth.

He was three large gulps in when he noticed the odd coppery taste to the drink and he had almost finished the glass by the time his tastebuds had recovered enough to recognise it as the taste of _blood_.

Knight dropped the glass in his surprise and it shattered on the floor, crimson liquid spilling across the beige carpet. He looked down at it in shock and then raised a shaking hand to his mouth where a stray droplet of the drink was threatening to roll down his chin.

Yuki was yelling something but he couldn't hear it through the sudden ringing in his ears. All his senses were focused on the spill off red beneath his feet, soaking into the carpet, staining it irrevocably. He felt like _he'd_ been strained irrevocably, mouth and throat soaked through with the taste of it. His tongue felt heavy in his mouth and Knight felt a scream building up deep in his chest.

"-ight! Knight! Look at me!" a voice yelled and strong hands gripped onto his shoulders, shaking him out of the trance he could feel himself falling into. He could _smell_ the sick, sweet cloy of blood rising up from below him.

"Wha-" Knight said dazedly, eyes refocusing to take in the sight of Kaien crouched on front of him, blocking out the sight of most of the red, with worry etched into the lines of his youthful face.

"There was blood..." he began but Kaien's expression didn't even flicker and suddenly everything snapped into place. His weird insistance that Yuki not drink his juice, the thing with the tea...

" _You_ put blood in my drink!" he yelled and angrily shook Kaien's hands off, slipping off the chair and putting as much distance between them as humanly possible, only stopping when his back hit up against the far wall. He felt his chest heaving with a strange emotion and it took him a second to identify it as betrayal.

He felt _betrayed_.

When had he begun trust Kaien Cross? When had he begun to care enough that this betrayal cut him so deeply?

"Calm down Knight, I can expla-" Kaien began, hands held out on front of him as though to calm a frightened animal. Knight did not appreciate the comparison and sneered.

"The _hell_ you can, you psychopath!" he spat, arms crossed on front of him, eyes flicking around the room for some kind of weapon or escape, whichever came first.

What his eyes eventually landed on, however, was Yuki.

She was still half-in, half-out of her seat with one hand outstretched towards him and the other desperately clutching onto the table-cloth. Her eyes were wide and frightened and even from this distance he could see the tell-tale wobble of her mouth that meant she was holding back tears.

A wave of shame crested through him and he tightened his arms around his middle in an attempt to stave it off. He was making Yuki _cry_.

Kaien had crept closer and was now about a foot away, arms still outstretched, with an earnest look on his face.

"Shh, _shh_ Knight. I promise you that I only had your best interests at heart. I _promise_." he said, sincerity writ in every line of him. Against his will Knight felt the tension begin to leak from his bones.

"You... I don't care _who's_ interests you had in mind! What made you think that would be okay? Are you crazy?" Knight croaked, unwinding one of his arms to scrub furiously at his lips, almost prefering the taste of vomit to the thick, copper flim that had settled across the roof of his mouth.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you." Kaien admitted, voice gentle and soft as he tried to coax Knight away from the wall. "I forget sometimes how intelligent you are for your age, I'm sorry Knight. Really."

Knight sniffed angrily and felt another shiver of shame at the realisation that he was crying. Big, traitor tears streaked down his face and he spent a second out of glaring at Kaien to furiously swipe them away.

"Well I don't accept!" he bit out, voice gone high and warbling in a way that made him want to hit something. Preferably Kaien.

"That's okay but, please, come away from the wall. You're scaring Yuki" Kaien said, still in that soft voice.

Which, low blow. Knight glanced back over at Yuki who was now actually crying and he bit back a wince.

She looked like she wanted to run over but also like she didn't know how her affection would be recieved and he hated seeing that worried look on her little face. He'd promised to protect Yuki, and that meant even from his own anger. Letting her see him like this was unforgivable and Knight swallowed his rage down until it was just a burning ember in the pit of his stomach and he felt hollowed out and exhausted.

Knight forced a smile onto his face and then opened his arms up towards her.

"C'mon." he urged and that quiet encouragment was all it took.

Yuki let out a big sob and then flung herself across the room and into his arms, tiny form shaking with the force of her cries. Knight clutched her tight and tried to rub calming circles into her back while glaring furiously at Kaien from over her shoulder.

"Shh, Yuki. It's fine, _I'm_ fine" he lied and rocked her side-to-side. He would be find, he'd _have_ to be fine, for her sake if nothing else. The more he said it in his head the less it sounded like a lie.

Kaien stepped forward after a moment of letting them hug it out and, ignoring Knight's warning growl, picked the both of them up and settled them against his chest.

"Papa's sorry, sweethearts. Papa's so sorry." he said, resting his cheek against their heads. Yuki hiccuped miserably but obligingly nuzzled into his cheek. Knight just set his face into what he hoped was a blank mask and frowned up at him.

"You said you could explain. So _explain_." he said.

Kaien heaved out a huge sigh and then nodded.

"I suppose I owe you that, my dear." he said and then carried them into the sitting room before sliding bonelessly onto the large sofa. He dragged a knitted quilt over the three of them and nestled back into the cushions before addressing the ceiling.

"There are some things I would have liked to wait to explain to you when you are older. You're doomed to become entangled up in this dark world but I would have liked to spare you by at least a few years." Kaien said, a little sadly.

Knight almost wanted to interrupt and tell Kaien to get a move on but something about the tone of his voice and the serious expression on his face made Knight hold his tongue. He tucked a swathe of hair that had escaped from Yuki's braid back behind her ear and then tilted his head up to stare at the same ceiling fixture as Kaien.

"There are creatures in this world called Vampires-"

"Like K'name?" Yuki interrupted.

"Yes, Yuki, like Kaname. He's a very special kind of vampire though, he's a Pureblood. A vampire who's lineage has not seen a single drop of human blood. One of the unique... _abilities_ of Pureblood vampires is the ability to turn others into vampires." he said, voice monotone.

Knight emphatically did _not_ like the way this was going.

"These vampires who were once human are the lowest in the vampire hierarchy. They are unable to deal with their bloodlust, bodies and minds ill-equiped for the stress of the transformation and they often go mad. The vampire who attacked you on that fateful night was one of these vampires, a Level-E...

We think, that is Kaname and I, that you, Knight, might have been attacked by one such Pureblood before you were found. Your sympthoms match and when Kaname tasted your blood last week and noticed that it was not entirely human." Kaien said as he began to slowly stroke his fingers through Knight's hair, deftly working out the tangles that had been caused by the earlier pandemonium.

"So you think I'm one of these... these Level-Es? Am I going to go crazy?" Knight asked, feeling oddly calm after forcing down his rage from earlier. His hands trembled against Yuki's cheek though, betraying the fear he felt at becoming a blood-thirsty monster like the freak who'd attacked him in the snow.

"Yes and no. There is a solution, however temporary. The blood of the Pureblood who bit you can stabilise your condition. We don't have that but we do have the next best thing." Kaien said leadingly.

"Kaname." Knight said, feeling very very tired.

"Well, yes. He's agreed to provide you with the necessary amount until we figure out another way to stabilize you." Kaien said and Knight fought to keep the bitterness of his face at the sight of Yuki's wide eyed curiosity.

"So Knight's a vampire like K'name?" she said wonderingly and Kaien chuckled, though it sounded a little sad.

"Not quite. Sweetheart, not quite."

And, abruptly, Knight had enough.

It was bad enough that he'd be transported into this strange world, bad enough that he'd been ripped away from his family and friends and his _life_. It was bad enough that he'd been shoved into the body of a child, a female child.

But this... _this_ was the last straw.

Becoming a goddamn _vampire_ was the last straw.

"I'm going... I have to go." he said and wormed his way off Kaien's lap, almost dislodging a worried looking Yuki.

Kaien, bless his evil little heart, kept Yuki nestled against his chest and gently shushed her protests as Knight walked robotically out of the room and up the stairs.

He needed some time to think without having to worry about her, just for a second.


End file.
